meanie wrote:First gig for me was Victoria Hall Hanley, La Folie. I remember JJ giving me a can of Kestrel Lager part way through the gig, eating some chicks hair because I was stupid enough to be chewing gum in the mosh pit and some dipstick getting a kick up the arse from Hugh and JJ for spitting at them..... one of the best nights of my life.

May 30th Stafford Bingley Hall-ticket was £3 and the coaches were free-I remember waiting in what seemed a never ending queue and the band were doing a sound check and me foolishly thinking the band were on ! Steel Pulse were support and got jeered and bottled and if I remember correctly Jet came onstage and told the crowd to behave as they were big friends of the MIB . The Stranglers were absolutley awesome I just stood there mouth agape on tiptoes trying to see as much as I could-they played nearly every track off the first 3 albums--my life was slowly starting to change after hearing the singles and Rattus-dont think I'd heard Heroes yet-but this night totally changed my life-my first Stranglers gig and in my top 5-brilliant night I was buzzing for days after

Mine was Lancaster University on the Raven tour in October 1979. It was my first ever real gig and I was 15. I didn't have any of their records at the time but I knew some of the singles from the radio and Top Of The Pops. They opened with one I knew (5 Mins) and the whole place went crazy. I also remember one which slowed down at the end (must have been Burning Up Time) one with a really complex drum pattern (Genetix) and two songs with keyboard parts which were so high pitched and so loud that they made my ears ring for days afterwards (Shah and Sleazy?). They also did one about Nubiles (a new word which I had to look up in the dictionary afterwards) and Duchess which had just been in the charts, was my favourite song at the time and was absolutely stunning.

I hung around afterwards and managed to get back-stage. I met the band and got all of them to autograph my programme which was virtually disintegrating from having been in my inside jacket (yes, jacket - it was my first gig - I had no idea!) pocket. I was completely tongue tied in the presence of real pop(?) stars who I'd seen on TOTP and, apart from a whispered "Can you sign this please" to each of them, the full extent of the dialogue between me and the band I would grow to worship over the next few years went like this: Me: "It was hot in there!" Dave (with a withering glance) "Yeh - I had noticed."

That night, they were using a pioneering technology which was used to set off fireworks etc on stage, so the gig was featured on Tomorrow's World a month or so later. Years afterwards, having joined the BBC as a studio operator, I asked a mate of mine to have a dig about in the TW archives and (gawd bless him) he found the recording. The one track which had survived turned out to be Toiler and he ran me off a VCS copy. I guess they must have done The Raven and Nuke as well but I don't remember any of the other songs - so if anyone has the full set list I'd be v grateful if they could share it.

I've seen the band many times since, highlights include Lancaster Uni again in 1981, Manchester Apollo in 1982, Reading (complete with heavy metal wigs for the encore) in 1983, Athens in 1985, Brixton Academy in 1990, the return of the band as a four-piece at the Shepherd's Bush Empire (2003?), Rattus at the Roundhouse and the acoustic and B&W sets at the 2011 Convention. Next up is The Roundhouse a week on Friday. Can't wait!

Hello guys, 1st post here (appropriately about my 1st gig.)
It was the City Halls in Glasgow, 1977. A magical night: JJ in leather, Dave in that jumpsuit, Jet a massive frame behind his drumkit and Hugh sporting a ripped donkey jacket. The set was most (if not all) of Rattus as this gig was pre Heroes but I remember Dead Ringer and Dagenham Dave making an immediate impression on me.
The stage was getting invaded throughout the night and eventually had to get stopped early during Go Buddy Go when there was so many pe ople on stage you could hardly see the band. Because of this gig the Stranglers were banned from playing in Glasgow but the ban was lifted later in the year for the first Glasgow Apollo gig. A city councillor called Bill Aitken who was responsible for the ban was at that show and Hugh got him picked out by spotlight and dedicated the next song to him - "Ugly!"
The Glasgow Apollo was the scene of so many great nights but I think that the more intimate setting of that first gig made it so special. Last week at the O2 I got a taste of that special atmosphere by dragging my middle aged body down to the front for a bit of pogoing during the encores. I know I sound like a lightweight but I did my best!

kjblack wrote:Hello guys, 1st post here (appropriately about my 1st gig.)
It was the City Halls in Glasgow, 1977. A magical night: JJ in leather, Dave in that jumpsuit, Jet a massive frame behind his drumkit and Hugh sporting a ripped donkey jacket. The set was most (if not all) of Rattus as this gig was pre Heroes but I remember Dead Ringer and Dagenham Dave making an immediate impression on me.
The stage was getting invaded throughout the night and eventually had to get stopped early during Go Buddy Go when there was so many pe ople on stage you could hardly see the band. Because of this gig the Stranglers were banned from playing in Glasgow but the ban was lifted later in the year for the first Glasgow Apollo gig. A city councillor called Bill Aitken who was responsible for the ban was at that show and Hugh got him picked out by spotlight and dedicated the next song to him - "Ugly!"
The Glasgow Apollo was the scene of so many great nights but I think that the more intimate setting of that first gig made it so special. Last week at the O2 I got a taste of that special atmosphere by dragging my middle aged body down to the front for a bit of pogoing during the encores. I know I sound like a lightweight but I did my best!